Along Route 74: What old song do you hate having stuck in your head?

By Alan Ford

Published: Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 08:30 PM.

It happened again the other day.

Since The Star switched to being a morning newspaper more than a decade ago, the job is close to what we used to call second-shift (3-11 p.m., give or take a little at the beginning or end). That means it’s very unusual now to even set my old "radio-alarm" clock to wake myself.

When that does occur, it’s the following day that I forget it’s still locked on to that time and it comes on unexpectedly. When it did that most recently, Glen Campbell’s “Galveston” song blared out even though I have no recollection of putting the radio on any station that would include that oldy-goldy from the late 1960s on its playlist.

That caused another problem — all day I couldn’t get that song out of my head, even though back in the day it had been popular even with me. A few years ago, there was a slightly humorous TV commercial where the rock band Survivor — known for their big hit “Eye of the Tiger” connected to the Rocky movies — followed an individual around to his job and other places singing that song.

This led to a rather interesting conversation in the newsroom that, in turn, resulted in asking Star readers on Facebook the following: “What song (or songs) get stuck in your head most often and about drive you batty?!”

One coworker mentioned something called “Friday” by Rebecca Black because of a couple of fellow Star employees’ penchant for singing that in the office late every week. The titles ranged from “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift, “Home” by Phillip Phillips, “Gangnam Style” by Psy and/or “Diamonds” from Rihanna.

(Of course you know you’re a bit out of touch with the music world when you have to ask who some of these artists are!)

Since The Star switched to being a morning newspaper more than a decade ago, the job is close to what we used to call second-shift (3-11 p.m., give or take a little at the beginning or end). That means it’s very unusual now to even set my old "radio-alarm" clock to wake myself.

When that does occur, it’s the following day that I forget it’s still locked on to that time and it comes on unexpectedly. When it did that most recently, Glen Campbell’s “Galveston” song blared out even though I have no recollection of putting the radio on any station that would include that oldy-goldy from the late 1960s on its playlist.

That caused another problem — all day I couldn’t get that song out of my head, even though back in the day it had been popular even with me. A few years ago, there was a slightly humorous TV commercial where the rock band Survivor — known for their big hit “Eye of the Tiger” connected to the Rocky movies — followed an individual around to his job and other places singing that song.

This led to a rather interesting conversation in the newsroom that, in turn, resulted in asking Star readers on Facebook the following: “What song (or songs) get stuck in your head most often and about drive you batty?!”

One coworker mentioned something called “Friday” by Rebecca Black because of a couple of fellow Star employees’ penchant for singing that in the office late every week. The titles ranged from “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift, “Home” by Phillip Phillips, “Gangnam Style” by Psy and/or “Diamonds” from Rihanna.

(Of course you know you’re a bit out of touch with the music world when you have to ask who some of these artists are!)

One individual (sorry Burns and Gardner-Webb) expressed a disdain for “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Yours truly dreads hearing that old telephone number tune — “867-5309/Jenny” by Tommy Tutone — because I know it’ll keep popping in my head throughout the day.

Some of the nominations for the list included such musical variety as “Whip It” by Devo, “Low Rider” by War, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, and “Achy Breaky Heart” from Billy Ray Cyrus.

Of course, these may actually be the favorite songs by fans of those particular artists. But to others, when they get stuck in your head, it’s like having someone making that screeching sound with their fingernails on a blackboard sitting in the backseat as you drive.

To each his own, of course, when it comes to music. But I’ve had my share of headaches associated with “Elvira” from the Oak Ridge Boys being stuck in my noggin. Then I’m almost begging for any Top 40 hit from the past 50 years to come along and replace it.